How sad is this?

A Disappointing Continuation

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Originally filmed under the title "NAM" before being changed to "Platoon Leader" to cash in on the success of Oliver's Stone "Platoon". A young officer, just out of West Point is sent to Vietnam, where the men don't respect him until he gets wounded and returns to be a wiser soldier and a better commander. Sound's like a good idea for war movie , right ? Sadly this is a dreadful movie Some people who defend this garbage claim that this is a good movie , because it's a realistic description of Vietnam War , compared to the "Apocalypse now " . I wanna tell those people that "AN" is a masterpiece on every level - acting , dialogue , plot . music , direction etc, etc . As a work of art it has every right to take some liberties to send it's message ."Platoon leader" does have some good scenes in it . However the direction is crappy. Aaron Norris doesn't know how to create tension in action scenes , he uses slow motion in embarrassing way , the drama scenes suck and the pacing doesn't exist here . The acting is also terrible . Dudikoff is likable and charismatic enough action star , but here the role requires someone with far bigger acting talent . Dudikoff tries , hell everyone tries , you can easily see it , I like the ambition , but the most dramatic scenes in the movie are so badly acted that it's just painful to watch . It's not even funny bad , just bad.The production values are poor , the movie looks terribly cheap . The music is generic "war drama" music , nothing inspired .The script sucks . The philosophical dialogues are rubbish and the character development is non-existent. Nothing really happens and I 've got a feeling that I was watching an action movie somewhat camouflaged as war drama. I could see potential here and there with some scenes , but it really felt like poor man's "Platoon" . And the very ending scene feels like it belongs to buddy-cop comedy.Interesting thing - this is the only film directed by Aaron Norris to not have his brother Chuck Norris in it.I give it 1/10. If you want to see a good and little known war movie better watch "Bat 21" with Gene Hackman and Danny Glover or "Siege of firebase Gloria" with R. Lee Ermey .

"Platoon Leader"...what a generic and terrible name for a fairly emotional and deep war film. I'm sure the film's title, in addition to starring Michael Dudikoff and being released by Cannon, turned a lot of people off from checking this movie out. But Aaron Norris does a superb job of balancing B-movie action with harrowing and emotional drama. Dudikoff is passable (as usual) as the lead platoon leader...but Paul F. Lyons really lends the film it's credibility and gravitas. Lyons' performance is great and one of the many highlights of the film. The budget was surprisingly solid for a B-movie and the supporting cast was great. War movies tend to have a repetitive nature about them...but "Platoon Leader" features some impressive and original moments. Like when one of the soldiers overdoses on drugs or how the Vietcong kill Vietnamese they believe to be aiding soldiers with a death letter stuck to the victims bodies. It has it's B-movie moments but it also has some heart and great human moments. I was surprised to be as invested in the soldiers as I was and "Platoon Leader" was a solid war film that deserves a better known reputation.

A Vietnam veteran who has been in the bush and actually experienced combat will tell you that this film is very close to actually being there. Having viewed almost every film made about the "Nam" this film was very well written and directed. I viewed the film with some of the guys I was with in country with and we pointed out a number of small technical flaws, such as the 173rd Airborne patch on some of the uniforms did not have the Airborne tab over it and the lack of jump wings over the US Army patch stood out. The "LT" should be taking direct orders from his company commander the captain who shows up later in the film not from a major at the battalion headquarters. Other from that the film rates high marks and we were glad to see that the military adviser was Airborne.

I had a lot of fun at uni fast forwarding to the frankly risible lines of dialogue, fantasy-world scenes and other complete bollocks. It is very entertaining because it is so rubbish. MD is terrible in it, the script stinks, the acting is appalling, there's a wafer thin budget, the location could be somebody's back garden. Was there a military adviser on this? If there was he did a bang up job of ballsing it up. It isn't authentic in the slightest.However for all this, it is dreadful example of film making and war film making in particular, one which I would try and make everybody watch at least once all the way through. Then I'd get drunk and fast forward to the funny bits and wooden lines.I'll leave you with this thought: "...some people are in the shoe business..."Check out the bit with the heroin overdose and two sets of overacting, the 'oscar speech' (see above), the bit where he goes "deeeeeeead's gooooooood!!!!", the terrible pyros, just see it!!!!!!!!!! Coz it has to be seen to be believed.Canon you say? I would never have guessed.